HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN? Seriously. The landlord never suspected a thing because he was always covered with a blanket? Have they invented odor masking blankets now? Because this had to smell AWFUL. And why didn't either the man's gf or his roomie put a foot down & say, "Hey. This is not cool! You are going to die!"? Why did she continue to feed/water him when he started just living in his own waste? Once that happens, uh, yeah, it's time to get help. FUCK pride.*

I can understand the isolationism created by the shame of living that way, I can (Think Gilbert Grape, think Nip/Tuck). When my mom was sick with round two, things could get dicey. Getting her back & forth from the bedroom to the john wasn't always easy; she sometimes pissed the bed or somewhere inbetween. Once she liqui-shitted the shower/tub. But, uh, I always cleaned things up before I got her back into bed. Once in, I powdered under her breasts & her thighs/buttocks to prevent chafing & such so she wouldn't be uncomfortable. And at the end, the back of her head was nothing but a mass of snarls because she was too weak to brush it, but also too vain/embarrassed to ask somebody to do it for her.

But to spend two years sitting in your own filth? How do you EAT when you know that twelve hours later you're going to be sitting in the cold shit of whatever it is you are about to eat?

I'm also amazed that APS couldn't do anything. Apparently they only deal with eldercare & the challenged, I guess. These people clearly needed help & didn't get it. It's sad.

*I have read responses from some people along the lines of, "You can't help somebody that doesn't want help". Which is true. People that get to that point are master manipulators & will get what they want come hell or high water. They only care about themselves & that is based in the here & now, not the future. And loved ones are forced into enabling.

With my mom? The first time around? I rode her hard. HARD. I made her cry a LOT, but it was ultimately her decision to go along with the plan. She's the one that had to stop it with the fucking pills & she did & she got better. She could suddenly DO things & go places without having to stop every five minutes for a breather. She got some self-esteem. BUT. She also chose to throw it all away the second I wasn't there to keep after her & that she found somebody that was more than willing to coddle her.

In the end, I know she blamed MOST of her fucking shame spiral on me. She took no personal responsibility for the hell she caused herself; her occasional "I'm sorrys" were completely hollow. I will never forget her screaming at me that her "depression" was my fault. It wasn't. She made her choices, she had to live with them. Sadly, she chose to die with them as well.

ETA: Spoooooky! Dead fat guy in diapers died in his armchair on last night's CSI!

And something else I forgot to mention: the fat hate. In a lot of the comments sections of the articles I've read about this there has been a contingency of men saying, "This fat pig had a girlfriend?! And I'M single?! FML!" This was also echoed in the CSI episode. Because, y'know, fat people don't deserve love. Yeah, there's the sat in his own shit for two years angle, but they were obviously together prior to that, so tthey must have loved each other.

--------------------

"You're cute, like a velvet glove cast in iron. And like a gas chamber, a real fun gal."

OMG! IT LOOKS LIKE THE HOOKERS WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Has anyone else been watching this?

The next stage will probably be an appeal by the Ontario government but STILL!!!!!!!!!!HOLY FUCK! this is still a major victory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is great news! But we need to wait for confirmation of exactly what this means...

TORONTO - An Ontario court has struck down key provisions of Canada's anti-prostitution laws, saying they contribute to the danger faced by sex-trade workers.

Dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford and two other sex-trade workers had asked Ontario's Superior Court of Justice to rule on the Criminal Code provisions relating to prostitution.

They argued prohibitions on keeping a common bawdy house, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living on the avails of the trade force them from the safety of their homes to face violence on the streets.

The women were asking the court to declare legal restrictions on their activities a violation of charter rights of security of the person and freedom of expression.

Prostitution itself is not illegal in Canada, but almost everything associated with it is — a situation one Supreme Court judge once said was "bizarre."

The federal government had argued that prostitution is inherently dangerous, no matter where it is practised.

The government also warned that Canada could become a sex tourism destination if prostitution-related activities are decriminalized.

Bedford's "Bondage Bungalow" north of Toronto was raided by police in 1994 and she was convicted of keeping a common bawdy house in 1998.

Jane Henson, wife of Jim Henson, donated original puppets from her husband's collection. Scroll down the comment section and look at one of the pics of Kermit with a picture with Jim Henson. I dare you not to get sad.

In response to the way personal info is dealt with, many are planning to log off facebook for the day. Please consider participating and passing this message along. I posted it on facebook this morning before logging off myself. And remember, it's not enough to just stay away for the day, you've got to go into My Account and actively click the log out button. Thanks and 3 cheers for community action!

At first I was all LOL but after about ten minutes of browsing, it just got depressing. I thought about searching "murder" but then I remembered that Facebook group that wants Obama killed, and my cod why hasn't the FBI shut the fuckers down already? I thought all threats to the President's life were taken seriously ("Respect for the office, if not the man!" only applies to Bush, I guess).

“I can’t tell you this. I can only tell my confessor any sin of mine. I don’t need to admit or deny.”Unbelievable.JUST UNBELIEVABLE. I have no words at the moment.

--------------------

Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are serviley crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blind faith. — Thomas Jefferson

Since I'm puttering around on here and just read about that situation, I just want to weigh in with my little opinion-I attended a conference this weekend where a traumatic brain injury specialist spoke about the injured and related it to how all of us sometimes have trouble with word finding or difficulty in expressing ourselves. Or when someone asks something of us and our immeadiate response is 'what?' and before they can actually repeat themselves, we have processed the request and are responding. It can be very similar in the case of this woman, and those in comas- they cannot respond in the ways we may want nor can they respond in the time frame we may like to see- however it does not indicate they are unaware. As well, some centers provide coma therapy- where a style of music, particular people, pets, and so on bring some sensory response to the injured- again, it may not be the same response an uninjured person may give to the same stimuli, but there is reception of the input (music, a voice, sight, etc). I should be sending the husband that info, but anyway....

And a random addendum to that- the doctor who I heard this weekend was Dr Noble- a specialist in Phila. Excellent doctor and wow can he explain things in ways I grasp

I've been watching this situation since I first posted about it. As far as I am concerned, this man is cruel as hell. Abbie Dorn's in the condition she's in because of her desire to birth her own children & to be denied access to them is simply awful. If her asshole husband hadn't stopped visitation in the first place, I think this woman would be in a much better place than she is now. Just bringing the kids into her home & letting them sit on the floor & play in front of her would be beneficial. And from the footage I've seen, I do think she's still in there.

--------------------

"You're cute, like a velvet glove cast in iron. And like a gas chamber, a real fun gal."

Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are serviley crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blind faith. — Thomas Jefferson